Friday, June 12, 2015

As I mentioned: "Whoa! Had some steep ins and outs in Vietnam, but this is amazing!"

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in its fully painted new livery, with the golden
lotus - Vietnam’s national flower rehearsed the flying display for the
best performance at one of the world’s biggest air shows.

It will
be expected to bring a stunning performance to the audiences. Get a
preview before the show and greatly admire the beauty and luxury
exterior, perceive the spectacular glide and gentle landing of B787-9
Dreamliner of Vietnam Airlines!

The only thing Steve Adams knew about the Rubbin Buttz BBQ is that
its Hispanic owners were hosting “White Appreciation Day” on Thursday,
but that was enough to persuade him to make the hourlong drive for
lunch.

“It’s nice to know someone else doesn’t think that we’re
the enemy,” said Mr. Adams, who lives about 50 miles away in Aurora, as
he and his friend Art Babic waited for a table in the packed restaurant.

“We’re
all the same,” he said. “It’s only in more recent years that we’ve got
everybody separated. So if this is bringing everybody together, it’s a
good thing.”

JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS AGO, THE SOUNDS OF "DIXIE" FILLED THE AIR ON THOSE COOL AUTUMN NIGHTS AS THE YOUNG GLADIATORS PREPARED TO DO BATTLE ON THE LOCAL FOOTBALL FIELD. THE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS STILL BURN AND THE YOUNG MEN KNOCK HEADS ON THE FIELD WHILE THE FANS CHEER ON THEIR HEROES. BUT SOMETHING IS MISSING. SOMETHING THAT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS HAS MANAGED TO SNUFF OUT. HELL YOU GUESS IT, THAT HISTORICAL OLE SOUTHERN FIGHTING SONG --- DIXIE

Live performance by the 2nd South Carolina String Band at the 2010 re-enactment of Cedar Creek.

A budgeting request by President Obama that would have spent $50 million
in taxpayer funds on lawyers for unaccompanied minors immigrating to
the United States illegally was blocked by the Senate Appropriations
Committee subcommittee led by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) during the
markup process for Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations
bill this week.

President Obama suffered a major defeat to his Pacific Rim free trade
initiative Friday as House Democrats helped derail a key presidential
priority despite his last-minute, personal plea on Capitol Hill.

The
House voted 302 to 126 to sink a measure to grant financial aid to
displaced workers, fracturing hopes at the White House that Congress
would grant Obama fast-track trade authority to complete an accord with
11 other Pacific Rim nations.

When Col. Melvin Garten retired from the Army in 1968, officials said he was the most decorated colonel in the force.

He also was two years removed from death in the jungles of Vietnam.

After being blown up by a Viet
Cong mine, Col. Garten had no pulse and a drastically reduced
temperature when he was brought to a field hospital in Nha Trang.

But the officer, who had begun
his career as an enlisted soldier at the beginning of World War II,
didn't stop fighting. And quick-working Army surgeons revived Col.
Garten even after they had proclaimed him deceased.

Col. Garten, 93, died May 2 at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

When Col. Garten retired at Fort
Bragg, he held many of the Army's top medals, including the nation's
second highest award - the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as three
Silver Stars, five Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars, the Legion of
Merit, two Joint Commendation Medals and two Air Medals.

His last position was as chief of staff for the 12th Support Brigade.

In an interview in 1968 with the
Observer, Col. Garten said his wife, Ruth, had received notice of his
being wounded, missing or dead on seven occasions.

Outside the Beltway bubble, a broad coalition of voters from the left,
right and center opposes the mega-trade deal getting rammed through
Congress this week by the Republican establishment on behalf of the
White House. Here's why.

The Obama administration, House GOP leader John Boehner and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sold out American sovereignty.
Their so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission will have sweeping
authority over trade, immigration, environmental, labor and commerce
regulations.

Spend enough time contemplating the lunacy that pervades society and you find that physical reality offers blessed relief. Release a ball and it drops because of the earth’s mass and consequently, its gravity. It works every time, not subject to anyone’s whim. Gravity, time, space, light, energy, and other phenomena can be defined and explained.

As science progresses, definitions and explanations change as scientists search for the logic that most closely correspond to reality. Many of humanity’s affairs, on the other hand, defy logic and deny reality.

One innovation combines the unfortunate propensities to defy and deny with the mathematical certainty of Boyle’s law and the mechanical precision of a dropping guillotine blade: debt.

Judged by the quality of the men it brought to power the
eighteenth-century Virginia way of selecting political leadership was
extremely good; but judged by modem standards of political excellence,
it was defective at nearly every point. As for voting qualifications,
there was discrimination against women, poor men, and Negroes. There
was no secrecy in voting, and polling places—only one in each
county—were spaced too far apart. The two-party system was not in
existence. Local government was totally un­democratic, and few offices
at any level of government were filled by direct vote of the people:
only burgesses in the colonial period and not many other officers for
many years after the Revolution. Such modem refinements of political
processes as the nominating primary, initiative, referendum, popular
recall, proportional voting, and mechanical voting machines were, of
course, unknown.

Nearly every detail of the political processes of eighteenth-century
Virginia has been repudiated; but, at the same time, the men elevated by
those processes have come to be regarded as very great men. Here is a
dilemma in an area of fundamental importance, and its resolution is no
simple matter. Was eighteenth-century Virginia so full of great men that
a random selection would have provided government with a goodly supply
of great statesmen? If not, must it not follow that the selective
system played an important part in bringing to the top the particular
men who managed the public affairs of that day?

My article on the cost of illegal immigration in NC is worth reviewing again.. HB 328 now in the NC House would give drivers permits to illegal immigrants. This is a magnet for illegal immigrants, which would probably (almost certainly) explode illegal immigration in NC, especially since other Southern States are avoiding such foolish laws.

The impact on education here is probably understated, because it does not include the full impact of teaching dual-language students. The NCEA (Teachers'Union) might like it because it would create more teacher positions to focus on the enormous problem created when massive illegal immigration occurs. Over 76 percent of NC voters oppose driver permits for illegal immigrants. A referendum on this issue was rejected by Oregon voters by more than two to one. Yet special interests in North Carolina including the NC Chamber, NC Farm Bureau, and the restaurant, hospitality, and building industry are pushing HB 328 with all their financial might.

This Republican bill passed the House Finance Committee last week and can be voted on any day. This bill also violates the NCGOP Platform of 2014. The results of this bill will be tragic for North Carolina workers, taxpayers, schools, and every patriotic citizen who does not want his see NC politically dominated by special interest money from inside and outside the state. Any Republican Representative who votes for this must be thrown out of office in the 2016 primaries.

The Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR) has just released a multi-resourced report entitled The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on North Carolinians. (See www.fairus.org) With 410,000 illegal immigrants, 4.3 percent of the population, North Carolina ranks 11th among the states impacted. At the end of 2013, the state had 323,000 or 6.9 percent unemployed, ranking 17 out of 50 states in percentage unemployed.

The fiscal costs of illegal immigration in North Carolina are estimated at $2.0 billion per year or 9.7 percent of the state’s $20.7 billion annual budget. This is $578 annually for each North Carolina native or naturalized citizen household.

In 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly passed an "immigration enforcement" bill that actually weakened immigration enforcement. This bill, HB 786, was essentially a special interest bill for agriculture, restaurant, hospitality, and construction associations. Both the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Farm Bureau lobbied heavily for its passage.

HB 786 was vetoed by Governor McCrory, but his veto was overridden by the General Assembly. The principal fault of the bill was that it widened the gap of non-enforcement of the State's E-Verify law, which requires employers to check the immigration status of job applicants. Weakening enforcement attracts illegal immigrants.

The bill's principal sponsors in the NC House (www.ncga.state.nc.us), sad to say, were Republicans. They actually proposed that illegal immigrants be issued North Carolina driving permits to help them get to and from jobs. This outrageous provision was fortunately defeated by more sensible Republicans.

The $2.0 billion estimate includes $1.3 billion for education of the children of illegal immigrants, including $299 million per year for supplemental English instruction for 90,000 children of illegal immigrants. The state pays approximately 71 percent of this, and county and local governments pay 29 percent.

Healthcare for unlawful immigrants costs $232 million per year, public assistance $79 million, and law enforcement and justice $216 million per year. Another $212 million is incurred for general government services used.

A significant portion of the $2.0 billion annual cost of illegal immigration in NC impacts at the county level, disproportionately affecting counties with high numbers of illegal immigrants.

North Carolina Illegal immigrants pay only $288 million in taxes per year, most of which are sales taxes. They pay less than $14 million per year in income taxes. These taxes do not offset the slightly over $2.0 billion cost, because illegal immigrant workers are effectively displacing American workers who are paid nearly 40 percent more and therefore pay more taxes. In addition, tax fraud and tax avoidance are rampant among illegal immigrant workers. Cheap foreign labor for employers is a sizable fiscal burden on taxpayers.

Any significant amnesty, by the way, would increase annual fiscal costs substantially. Changing an illegal immigrant to a lawful immigrant increases their eligibility for government healthcare and retirement benefits and attracts more illegal immigrants.

Besides the fiscal costs of maintaining 410,000 illegal immigrants, the economic costs to North Carolina workers are considerable. Excessive cheap foreign labor, illegal or legalized, displaces North Carolina workers and drives down their wages. It must also be noted here that illegal immigrant labor is only a fraction of the fiscal and economic burden imposed on America by the combination of illegal immigrant labor plus increasingly excessive and irresponsible legal importation of cheap foreign labor in the face of high American unemployment and record low American workforce participation.

I do not have numbers specific to North Carolina, but according to the research of Harvard labor economist George Borjas, the economic costs of cheap foreign labor to all American workers far exceeds the fiscal costs. According to Borjas, foreign-born labor (both legal and illegal) contributes $1.6 trillion (11 percent) to the GDP of the American economy, but the net benefit is only $35 billion. This $35 billion net economic gain to the economy is more than offset by U.S. annual fiscal costs of illegal immigration (alone), approximately $84 billion in 2009, paid by U.S., state, and local taxpayers.

The immigrants benefit, of course, but the $35 billion benefit to the economy is comprised of an annual loss of $402 billion for American workers and a $437 billion profit for the employers of lower cost imported labor. What is really happening is that there is an annual transfer of $402 billion from American workers, whose wages are driven down by cheap foreign labor competition, to the employers of cheap foreign labor. The economic cost per American worker is about $2,800 per year. The employers are causing even more harm by displacing American workers and pushing many onto unemployment or other government programs paid for by the ever-exploited taxpayers.

It is no wonder lobbyists spend $300 million per year to influence Congress and state legislatures on immigration issues.

A 2006 research report by the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is a lesson in how lobbyist pressures can taint corporate and even academic economic studies. This report gave as an argument for cheap and even illegal immigrant labor—specifically citing Latino labor—that $1.0 billion in labor costs had been saved in building 27,000 North Carolina homes in 2004. Wow! What about work for North Carolina workers? This is a near perfect illustration of how American workers are hurt by cheap foreign labor, legal or illegal.

In addition, there are important costs that are extremely difficult to measure. Few issues are as important as public safety, but North Carolina’s $216 million annual expenditures on justice and law enforcement resulting from illegal immigration cannot measure the cost of illegal immigrant crime to its victims. An independent organization, NCFire (www.ncfire.info) is attempting to track these tragic and highly significant statistics.

Unfortunately, most North Carolina voters have not noticed that they are paying a huge burden in taxes, unemployment, lower wages, and increased exposure to crime for the benefit of commercial and political special interests.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

80%

,
the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on
Immigration and the National Interest, is issuing one final clarion call
against Obamatrade as the House readies to vote on the matter on
Friday.

Sessions’ final “critical alert,” one of several he’s issued
throughout the Obamatrade process, shows House Ways and Means Committee
chairman

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

60%

has been engaged in deception as he attempts to guide Obamatrade’s passage through the House.

“Promoters of fast-track executive authority have relied on semantic
obfuscation in an effort to deny the obvious: the President’s top
priority is obtaining fast-track authority because he knows it will
expand his powers and allow him to cement his legacy through the
formation of a new political and economic union,” Sessions said.

City Councilwoman Janet Dixon, who is seen here interfering with a police investigation into domestic battery by her son.

Wellston, Missouri no longer has a police department to call their
own. The city of 2,300 watched as all 23 of their police officers were
forced to turn in their badges earlier this week, after their police
department was disbanded, thanks to a city council vote. While the move
caught quite a few residents by surprise, those that were plugged into
the tensions between the city council and the police department may have
seen the writing on the wall.

As LEO Affairs
reported earlier this year, tensions between a certain city
councilwoman and the police department had been heating up for quite
some time. Late in 2013, Wellston police officers raided the home of
Terrance Dixon after getting a tip that he was selling crack cocaine and
heroin out of the house. Terrance Dixon happens to be the son of city
councilwoman Janet Dixon, and according to sources, Councilwoman Dixon
did not take kindly to the raid. A short time after the raid, three
officers, including the one that captured Dixon on tape confessing to
selling drugs out of his house, were fired by the city council.

Remembrance

To die for one’s country is not only an act of bravery, it is THE act of bravery. For soldiers, it is just an extension of their military career, a part of their duty. As leaders have asked their soldiers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the society, it is only right for leaders to go through the same motion. They should practice what they have preached.

As war is seen as a noble act, tu sat serves as redemption in case of defeat. It is also a way to tell the enemy: “You might have won the battle/war but you don’t deserve to win because you don’t have the chinh nghia (just cause).” And it is not only just cause: it is the moral belief that the cause they are fighting for deserves their total sacrifice. Continues below

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.